Once in a while, my brother comes to my house for lunch (hey Andy!). We love having him come!

The other day, as we were eating lunch, he made this comment, “You know when you feel like your house is a big mess, but then you go to someone else’s house and you don’t feel so bad about your own house?” I took this as a pretty GIANT hint that my house was a disaster… That was why I wrote the post “excuse our mess, we live here“.

So, I’ve been trying to get everything in order.  And along with whipping myself into shape, I’m trying to teach my children how to be responsible for their own messes, because cleaning up after myself, a husband, and three children doesn’t seem exactly awesome to me.

So I made them these chore charts and taped them up in their room.  And if they complete every job for the week, they get to earn a treat or prize of their choice.

This week, they chose a sleepover with dad.

They’ll get popcorn, a movie, and their dad’s entire attention, while being able to sleep on the living room floor.

Not my idea of a prize, but they are excited!

I’ve been using these charts for a few months, and I really love them!

I used pictures instead of words, and they know exactly what they are supposed to be doing for the day.

Even my 2 year old knows what to do and she does it!

I made these charts in Microsoft Word. You can download my chore chart, as a word document {here}. Feel free to edit it however you’d like.

Or, simply right click on this image and save it to your computer. (You won’t be able to edit it)

I’ll be honest, I was a little jealous of my kids having their own list of what to do. So I made my own.

I don’t get stickers, or a reward, but it’s much easier for me to know what I’m supposed to be working on for the day when I have a visual.

This idea came from {here}

You can download my job list, as a word document {here}. Feel free to edit it however you’d like.

Or, simply right click on this image and save it to your computer. (You won’t be able to edit it)

 Now, before you go thinking I’m crazy, let me explain my method of craziness….

I am a stay at home mother. A homemaker. My job is to take care of my home and my children. So this might seem like a lot to some of you, or a little to others. But this is what works for me and my family.

I have the most motivation in the morning. By the afternoon, I feel like I might take up drinking, and the thought of doing my daily tasks does not help. So, if I wake up and get a few things out of the way, before my kids are even up, or while they’re eating breakfast, it lightens my load A LOT.

I like to have one job to do each day. Otherwise, I feel like I have to do everything, and nothing gets done.

It’s SOOOO much easier to keep up than to catch up. It’s a lot easier for me to do 2 small loads of laundry, twice a week than it is to do 4 HUGE loads of laundry all in one day. When things start piling up, it makes it a lot worse to get everything done. The tasks of laundry and dishes are especially daunting, when you’ve let them pile up for a week or two. So, I choose to do them more often. Dishes are everyday. I unload the dishwasher in the morning, and then we just stick our dishes in after meals, and by the night time, the dishwasher is full. Then I set it to run while we are asleep and we wake up to clean dishes again in the morning.

Before going to bed is a good time for me to straighten up. Nothing is worse than waking up to an already dirty house, so if I do a quick pickup and sweep at night, things are a lot easier in the morning.

Some things, like baseboards and washing sheets get forgotten at my house until we have someone come over, or a kid pukes on their sheets. That’s just how it is. But, if I schedule it in, it gets done more often.

I’ve purposely coordinated my cleaning efforts to coincide with my kids’ jobs. Benson is 5, and one of his jobs on Wednesdays is to vacuum. He’s honestly not that good at vacuuming, probably because he’s 5. But that’s also what I’m doing on Wednesdays, so we work together and get it done.

Teaching your kids to work is hard sometimes. Trust me, the windows get done a lot faster, a lot better, and we use a lot less window cleaner when I just do it myself. But it’s all about teaching them that I am their mother, not their slave. Our house is a place where we work together and get things done (ideally), and part of that process is teaching the kids how to be responsible and pitch in.

And guess what, guys? This doesn’t always work 100% of the time. Sometimes we have a field trip on laundry day, and sometimes I don’t brush my teeth until 4:00 in the afternoon. But a little guidance is oh-so very helpful!

So, do you still think I’m crazy?

Hopefully this helps someone, somewhere, create a house of order.

Leave a comment, or send me a message on facebook if you really use my charts. I’d love to hear your feedback!